Appliance Fire Safety
Fire Safety Education
- Place a smoke alarm on every level of your home and outside bedrooms. If you keep your bedroom doors closed, place a smoke alarm in each bedroom.
- Regularly inspect your extension cords for fraying and never use an extension cord as permanent wiring.
- Instead of a simple extension cord, get a UL approved unit with built in circuit breakers.
- Routinely check your wiring. Look for outlets that don't work, light switches that are hot to the touch and lights that flicker.
- Never overload outlets or extension cords.
- Immediately repair appliances or lamps that sputter or spark.
- Keep appliances away from wet areas, especially in the kitchen, bathroom, basement, and garage.
- If an appliance has a three pong plug, never force it into a two slot outlet or extension cord.
- Don't let children play near electrical space heaters. Keep clothes, curtains, and other flammable items at least 3 feet away from heaters.
- Prepare and practice a home fire escape plan.
- In case of a fire, crawl or stay low to the ground, beneath the smoke.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Eighty two percent of all fire deaths occur in the home.
- Each year there are 24,300 residential appliance fires resulting in 100 deaths and 925 injuries.
- Some electrical fires are caused by electrical system failures and appliance defects. However, many more are caused by misuse, poor maintenance of electrical appliances, incorrectly installed wiring, and overloaded circuits and extension cords.
- Having a work smoke alarm reduces one's chance of dying in a fire by nearly half.
This information was obtained from the U.S. Fire Administration.